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When it comes to speed you can't beat cursive. Well, maybe cursive shorthand. Script is for slowpokes. Hell, why do you think cursive was invented and so widely taught in the first place? Linking letters makes for fluid, smooth writing. It also correlates with fine motor skills and reflexes - linking letters, linking thoughts. Never mind legibility or the possible lack thereof. I can pretty much decipher anyone's cursive. And it's interesting to read other people's cursive. Letters take on a life of their own.

Let me express my gratitude to all those who took the pain and trouble to teach me to read and write. There are good and bad ways to approach those two indispensable skills. And I feel I was taught the right way, because of the virtuosic speed I attained at an early age. Might have meant more sweat, more effort, but it was more than worth it. Sometimes you come across videos on youtube when the girl is reading - in French - and she keeps erming and hemming and you feel the red-hot iron of shame on your cheeks. "Poor chick", you can't help thinking, "she looks such an ass, but it isn't her fault, she was simply taught the wrong way". There's a newfangled way of teaching students to read in France, whereby words are learnt by heart instead of being broken down by syllables. The result is obvious: the learner keeps stopping at every unknown word. One sentence - or at most, one small paragraph - is enough to single out anyone who was "taught" that way. It's a national tragedy, that "method" is. It's not even a method, it's utter nonsense. Quite similar to "teaching" people to write in script, where letters won't even link to make up a word. God knows what possesses those who wish to ban cursive. Jealous idiots.

And as for all those who spit on the prettiness of cursive. There is a good deal to be said about that, as well. Certainly, cursive may impart beauty to one's writing. And what's wrong with that? Why shouldn't one's handwriting reflect one's personality? Isn't it in essence a part of it? Who's holding the pen? Your own hand, your fingers are an extension of your brain.

Who hasn't paused absent-mindedly before someone's handwriting and suddently thought "Hey, it does look pretty...". Who hasn't ever felt ever so slightly refreshed afterwards? Even at work, I remember jotting down some notes on a sheet of paper, and someone picking up the discarded paper and saying "I love the way you shape your g's". The beauty of it being that "shaping" letters is done in a flash - out of habit - but it delights and surprises some, if only for 3 seconds. Little surprises and little delights make for a little better day. If language is a communication tool, it's also something else. It's a reflection of our human essence and our spirituality. And personally, I think that proper cursive should bear the hallmark of elegance. More often than not, in those that have used it for years from dusty textbooks, it does, by mere force of habit. There is something deeply nostalgic, poetic and wonderfully fragile about cursive. Even all but illegible handwritings still have that "something". The years of habit bending that wrist, the thoughts behind the flow of words... Script just will never convey that.

Maria, I must say, those are the exact sentiments I expected you to express, and you expressed them wonderfully. I don't agree, obviously, but I respect that point of view and I'm quite pleased to see it included in the discussion. There is certainly a poetic quality to it that is easy to romanticise.

It is interesting that quite literally the only people defending cursive are French.

“Today a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves.” – Bill Hicks

I just read this thread in total Ignorant American Mode. I thought script and cursive were the same thing, but it seems script is what I've been taught as "print". Unless I was just that bad at paying attention in school.

Originally Posted by Vera

If two guys loving Offspring together is wrong, I don't want anything to be right.

“Today a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves.” – Bill Hicks